For many, the Christmas season marks a time of increased chaos as hectic scheduling and overwhelming agendas combine to make for one of the busiest times of the year. Yet for staff and students at Toronto's Newman Centre, the Christmas season is one of relative calm.

Rorate Mass celebrated at a Montreal parish continues age old liturgical tradition

These are dark days, and we are battle weary. There are a multitude of wars raging, geo-political, cultural, ecclesiastical, domestic and physical, and the northern winter has us scuttling like burrowing animals, seeking out light and warmth.

Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A) Dec. 18 (Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24)

God, give me a sign! How often we may have wished and prayed fervently for a sign, especially when we were in a desperate situation. 

Advent has always had a special importance to me, a type of monumental weight signalling what is unquestionably the most consequential moment for humanity: the arrival of Jesus. It is a time of waiting and preparation, marked by the gradual lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath.

Advent Season is here again. On Sunday Nov. 27, the Church begins a new liturgical year — Year A, with the celebration of the First Sunday of the new liturgical Season of Advent. 

For the first holiday outing in our new city, we headed out for the tree lighting in the town square. (It felt very Stars Hallow, for the Gilmore Girls fans, with lots of twinkly lights and a mayor’s words and Santa arriving by fire truck with all the usual characters.) After a line for sleigh rides, a queue for hot chocolate and another turn to take to see Santa, my little girl exclaimed loudly that “Mostly tonight, we were waiting in line!”

The Seeds of the Word Catholic Community has covered a lot of ground in southern Alberta this Advent season to empower young and old to prepare their hearts to welcome Christ on Dec. 25.

Isn’t it funny that the liturgical year starts with a period of waiting? Every year we get things going, by waiting. We wait for the birth of Christ through the season of Advent. I think this is fascinating and worthy of contemplation. Recently I found a source for such a contemplation in our country’s two official languages.

How have you been preparing yourself to celebrate Christmas this year?

Advent, like Lent, is a prayerful time of joyful expectation of a major feast of the Christian year.

Are we ready for Christ? After almost two years of living through this pandemic, we might feel like we are ready for anything and everything or maybe you are feeling like Charlie Brown just before Lucy pulls the football away.

Life looks pretty promising at dawn. The sun is rising, the air a little crisper, the day ahead of us full of possibilities — a chance to start anew, hope for the best, maybe even fix yesterday’s problems or at least see them in a new light.

First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 28 (Year C) Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

“The days are surely coming” is a phrase often repeated in prophetic texts of the Old Testament. It is usually followed by a detailed description of what God is going to do for Israel — most often, it will be a glorious and prosperous future.

With the second wave of COVID-19 dismantling the equilibrium between joy and gloominess, a night of music, prayer and testimony was organized to help Calgary youth take part in the Advent experience.